In substrate-manufacturing processes, deposition and etching of dielectrics and metal materials, coating and development of photoresists, asher process, etc are repeated a plurality of times to achieve delicate arrangement of patterning. However, although these processes including the etching or the asher process are performed, foreign substances still remain in substrates. Processes for removing these foreign substances include a cleaning process using deionized water or chemical.
Substrate-cleaning apparatuses performing the cleaning process are classified into a batch substrate cleaning apparatus and a single substrate cleaning apparatus. The batch substrate cleaning apparatus includes a chemical bath, a rinse bath, and a dry bath having sizes capable of processing 25 substrates or 50 substrates at once. The batch substrate cleaning apparatus removes foreign substances by immersing substrates in the respective baths for predetermined times. Such a batch substrate cleaning apparatus simultaneously cleans upper and lower portions of a substrate and processes a large amount of substrates simultaneously. However, as the diameters of substrates are increased, the sizes of baths are also increased, so as to increase the size of an apparatus and the amount of chemical. In addition, foreign substances detached from adjacent substrates are attached to substrates being cleaned in a chemical bath.
Recently, as the diameter of substrates is increased, the single substrate cleaning apparatus is widely used. In the single substrate cleaning apparatus, a substrate is fixed to a substrate chuck in a chamber having a small size adapted for processing a single substrate, then rotated by a motor, and then chemical or deionized water is provided to the substrate through a nozzle disposed over the substrate. The spin of the substrate spreads the chemical or the deionized water on the upper portion of the substrate, so as to remove foreign substances from the substrate. The single substrate cleaning apparatus has a smaller size than the batch substrate cleaning apparatus and achieves a uniform cleaning performance.
In general, the single substrate cleaning apparatus includes, from a side thereof, a loading/unloading unit, an index robot, a buffer unit, process chambers, and a main transfer robot. The index robot transfers substrates between the buffer unit and the loading/unloading unit, and the main transfer robot transfers substrates between the buffer unit and the process chambers. At the buffer unit, substrates to be cleaned wait to be inserted into the process chambers, or the substrates that have been cleaned wait to be transferred to the loading/unloading unit.
A transfer robot such as the index robot and the main transfer robot includes a plurality of arms, and a substrate is loaded on each of the arms. The respective arms move horizontally to take out or load substrates from or to storage such as front open unified pods (FOUPs) or the buffer unit.
Because of noise and vibration generated when the transfer robot moves vertically to place substrates on upper surfaces of the arms or when the transfer robot moves vertically with substrates placed on the arms, the transfer robot is required to move at a low speed. Thus, a substrate-transferring time of the transfer robot is increased, and transfer efficiency is decreased.